Month: April 2016

This novel is set in the future, a time in which virtual reality is most people’s every day reality. People choose to basically live in “The Oasis” which is an all consuming virtual reality that they can slip into and basically escape their lives and go anywhere and do anything. The story follows the main character Wade (AKA Parzival in the Oasis), a gunter trying to complete a huge quest to find missing Easter eggs hidden by the legendary Jim Halliday (co-created of the Oasis). I hesitated to read this book at first because I am not a huge video game enthusiast, nor do I know much about the 80s (I was only alive for 2 years during the 80s) but this story was an amazing adventure, it was hard to put it down, there really wasn’t a slow moment. There is a plethora of 80s references, from movies, to video games to music. If you’re a fan of the 80s, you would really love this book, if you’re a fan of arcade games and/or old school games, you would really love this book, if you love a great adventure with a handful of anticipation, you would love this book. Basically, you should read this book. Look for it on the big screen in 2018, directed by Steven Spielberg.

(Does contain spoilers, but you could find a better book to read, so you mizewell read my review)

I read this book as part of a book club I am in on Goodreads. I didn’t read a summary beforehand, I had no idea what it was about. When I initially started the book, I was pretty drawn in, it was intriguing. It follows Melanie, a young girl (kind of), who is locked up and escorted to class every day. My mind went in a lot of different places; was she a murderer or insane? No, the world has been basically taken over by a virus that broke out and turned humans into zombies/cannibals. However, Melanie and a few other children don’t have the impulse to eat others unless they encounter human pheromones. After the first 50 pages I lost a lot of interest. Much of the dialogue felt forced or unrealistic, like I doubt some of the characters would actually say the things they said. The ending wrapped up pretty quickly, basically almost all of the characters died in 5 minutes and the cannibal children take over.

I have read a lot of negative reviews about this book. Apparently this book was posed as the nextGone Girl and a lot of people felt like it didn’t live up to the hype. I disagree, I liked this book, a lot, I read it quickly. I understand how it may be hard to relate to the main character, Ani. She’s very negative, pretty shallow and the book itself is dark. If you’ve been through sexual trauma or lived through other traumatic events this book may be hard for you to read. The book is set in present day but flashes back to Ani’s high school experience. She attended an upper class private school, wanting desperately to fit in, she hangs out with the jocks and popular girls. The boys invite her over to a party one night and she is gang raped, which severely traumatizes her, which then influences who she becomes as an adult. One of her less popular friends, ends up participating in a school shooting, which Ani witnesses and lives through. As an adult, every single thing Ani does, is to distance herself from her past, to show that she has risen about and is better than the girl every one knew in high school. It makes her seem stuck up and shallow. However, she does go through quite a change and by the end of the book she is ready for the next chapter in life and ready to truly grow as a person and rise above her past in the right way. It hits on bullying, eating disorders, sexual abuse/trauma and severe traumatic events. This book is also headed to the big screen.

Recently the author, Jessica Knoll opened up about her own gang rape experience. You can read the article here. Thank you, Ms Knoll for using your horrible experience to help others. Thank you for your truth.

Y’all I’ve got to stop it with the post apocalyptic books. In this one, aliens have come to destroy all humans. The annihilation of the human race has come in waves (hence the title), very few people are left, one being the main character Cassie. Just a teenager, she is out in the wilderness alone, hiding from the aliens which now look just like humans, with no outward distinguishing characteristics. She has been separated from her brother who ends up running into her former crush. Cassie’s only goal is to find her brother, even if it means dying in the process. Luckily (or unlucky) she ends up with Evan, their relationship changes everything. You can’t trust anyone in this book, it leaves you second guessing everyone’s intentions. It certainly doesn’t slow down, it’s a wild ride. It’s currently a major motion picture (with bad reviews) in a theater near you.

The Glass Sword is the 2nd book in the Red Queen series, picking up with Mare fleeing newly instated, murderous King Maven. If you’re looking for a happy and upbeat book, this isn’t it. It’s depressing and full of heartbreak, but it’s unavoidable. I did sometimes feel that we were in Mare’s head too much (kind of how I felt we when we were in Harry’s head too much in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Mare and her friends set out to find more of her kind, Red blood, Silver power and so does the deadly Maven. Mare faces a choice, giving up herself or continuing her fight which means losing others along the way.

I must preface this by letting you readers known I read the last 10% of this on April 1st, my husband threatened to rat me out if I didn’t admit to this. While this book doesn’t have any crazy adventures, it was still a quick and quality read. The main character Syndey, has been under a lot of stress, her older brother Peyton’s life spun out of control resulting in a prison stay. She has been carrying around guilt, unsure of how to cope with the outcome of his mistakes, it’s a lonely place to be. She decides to switch schools where she becomes friends with a new group of people, who truly embody the meaning of friendship: loving without expectation and forgiving easily. It also reminds you to follow your instinct and to take care of yourself. Also it will leave you craving pizza and French fries. I enjoyed the hearts that the characters had, a reminder that there are good and true people in the world. Syndey learns a lot about herself and learns it’s okay to put yourself first sometimes.